Lucid Motors is raising funds for Arizona factory

According to reports, electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors is currently raising Series D financing. Electrek quotes Lucid CTO Peter Rawlinson's interview with The Motley Fool as saying that breaking ground at the Arizona factory site will be subject to secured Series D financing.

The factory would be built in three phases, the first phase valued at $240 million and enabling Lucid Motors to produce 8,000-10,000 vehicles per year, from 2019 on. By the time the plant would be producing 130,000 vehicles yearly – by 2022 if it all goes to plan – the entire investment would be worth $700 million. The factory would create 2,000 new jobs by the time it's in full swing. The mentioned Series D financing is usually the fifth round of funding for a start-up company.

Rawlinson was also relatively candid about Lucid's sales plans, saying that the company plans to have its own direct sales stores and service network. The first store would most likely be located in the Bay Area. Recent reports of pricing have raised eyebrows, as Lucid would plan to sell the base, 240-mile range version of its Air sedan from $60,000. The top-of-the range model would reach a 400-mile range and have 1000 horsepower.

Rawlinson also waxed lyrical about the new battery cell architecture, which the company is co-developing with Samsung SDI. "The cell chemistry that we've co-developed with Samsung is groundbreaking in that it is very tolerant to repeated, cyclic fast-charging." However, in addition to Samsung, there will be a number of other battery suppliers.